Slave to Levain?
I am beginning to get involved with more advanced bread baking using starters. I have made a few loaves with a Poolish, that have turned out pretty well. I am beginning to move on to Liquid Levain based breads.
I started a Levain culture following the instructions in "The Fundamental Techniques of Classic Bread Baking". There are instructions for day 1-9, but for Day 10 and beyond, it simply advises to replace what you remove in the same percentage.
Do I continue to feed the culture at this daily rate forever, as would seem to be the case, unless I put it in the fridge? If I do put it in the fridge, do I need to do anything special, when I want to use that culture (to compensate for its being cold)?
We bake about three times a week. So I want the culture handy, but continuing the daily feeding could get to be annoying.
You are in-charge, not your starter.
My view is that a lot of these instructions and ideas come from commercial situations where they're making a lot of bread every day - the average home baker, baking 2-3 times a week just one or 2 loaves is in a different place entirely.
Now - I bake 5 days a week and last Friday I baked 60 sourdough loaves, however my starters are still being looked after the same way they were when I got the first one going over 5 years ago...
They live in the fridge. They come out of the fridge when I want to make bread. I use them directly from the fridge unless there isn't enough starter to make the dough I need. Then I create a working levian by working out how much I need, dividing it by 5, using 1/5 of starter then 2/5 flour + 2/5 water - leave it for 4-5 hours, then use it. I needed to do this twice on Friday - starting at 10am to make about 6Kg of working levian by 7pm. Meanwhile the mother jars are topped up, left out for a few hours and put back in the fridge until the next time.
-Gordon
I bake 2-3 times per week, usually 1 loaf. And I maintain my starter in the same basic manner he does. I tend to use between 100-125 gm per bake, so I keep about 150 gm. This means that when I use 100 gm (which is the most common amount) and then build the remaining 50 gm back up to 150 by using 50 gm flour plus 50 gm water, it's a 1:1:1 feeding.
And all I have to do to give it an occasional higher-ratio feed is to use a bit more starter; e.g. using and replacing 120 gm works out to 1:2:2.
Thanks for your help. You gave exactly want I wanted to know.
I have another question, though maybe this should get its own Post. The Levain culture recipe I used started off with two days of Rye flour, then said switch to wheat. I assumed wheat meant All Purpose and that is what I used. The culture I have looks and smells pretty good. Would it have mattered if I used Whole Wheat instead of All Purpose?
...about 12 hours after a feeding. I haven't fed it since. I have made two batches from this culture, again following the instructions in "The Fundamental Techniques of Classic Bread Baking".
The Levain culture was once a creamy liquid, but when I opened the crock, I saw a lot of clear liquid atop a doughy material. I stirred it all together and took my sample to build the Levain for the bread. The bread turned out pretty well, although it didn't rise a much as I would have liked. Good flavor, both batches.
But the texture of the Levain culture was far from liquid. It was a big mass of gluttenty type stuff. Is this a normal transition after being refrigerated? Do I need to take any action? And how can I increase the rise of the bread?
I built the culture over ten days. On day eleven, I fed it again, waited about 12 hours, then put it in the refrigerator. After a day or two I took out a bit to build a starter. At that time I noticed a little clear liquid on top, but I stirred it in, and took my bit. I only took 3 grams, so I didn't feed it.
A couple of days later, I took it out to make another batch. This time there seemed to be a lot more of the clear liquid (which i assume is alcohol). I stirred it all together and took my 3 grams, which was difficult due to the texture of this culture. The bread turned out pretty well, but I would have liked a higher rise. It had very good flavor.
I built the culture using a little Rye and AP flour. I haven't fed it since I put it in the refrigerator about a week ago.
I am following the instructions in "The Fundamental Techniques of Classic Bread Baking" for the Liquid Levain Baguette, but I am actually making boules.